Field of Use
The present application relates to the field boats and yachts, and more particularly with providing control of such vessels.
Description of the Related Art
The development of electronic and fly-by-wire controls for marine applications has significantly simplified the design of medium to large vessels that utilize multi-location input controls. As a result, a significant percentage of newer designs have incorporated secondary control stations separate from a main pilot house and have even introduced custom, handheld remote controls for controls relevant to specific tasks such as docking the vessel.
The introduction of additional secondary control stations, however, has led to a different set of issues. While, traditionally, pilot stations were physically separated from common areas of vessels, these secondary stations are often adjacent to places passengers are commonly found. As a result, accidental operation of such controls by somebody other than authorized vessel operators is much more likely than in a traditional layout. Furthermore, when switching between control locations, vessel operators generally must explicitly change the active control status of the stations involved as well. So, while the introduction of task-specific secondary control stations is a significant improvement for the efficiency of the operator of the vessel, the important issue of unauthorized or unintentional use needs to be resolved.